The present invention relates generally to automobile partition apparatus and in particular to such an apparatus employing a vertical sliding partition window mounted on curved tracks attached to the front of a shield plate located behind the front seat backrest and separate from such backrest.
The automobile partition apparatus of the present invention is especially useful for confining prisoners in the rear seat of police cars but could also be used in other ways, such as for confining animals or for use as partitions in taxicabs or chauffeured limousines.
The window track and the entire window raising mechanism are mounted on the front surface of the shield plate behind the front seat backrest. This reduces the width of the entire apparatus and, together with a vertically curved sliding window and track, increases leg room in the rear seat area. In addition, the automobile partition of the invention is a safer apparatus whose rear surface is free of projections which can injure the prisoner and is free of any mechanism which can be tampered with by the prisoner. As an added safety feature, a key operated lock is employed on the front of the partition to enable raising and lowering of the partition window, which can be operated by a police officer standing outside of the automobile. Greater head and shoulder room is provided in the rear seat compartment by making the roll bar on which the partition and shield are mounted with curved leg portions.
Previously, vertical sliding partitions have been used in automobiles, as shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,015,515 and 3,441,306 of Halstead et al. However, in both of these partition apparatus, the partition window is mounted on tracks attached to the roll bar behind the shield extending across the front seat backrest. As a result, the backseat leg room is greatly reduced and the operating mechanism, including the track, is exposed to tampering by rear seat passengers. In addition, neither of these prior apparatus uses a vertically curved partition window mounted on similarly curved tracks.
Vertically curved tracks and sliding partition windows have previously been used for chauffeured limousines, as shown in U.S. Pat No. 2,632,668 of Keller, U.S. Pat. No. 2,782,069 of Storch, and U.S. Pat. No. 1,921,263 of Rivard. In each of these prior curved partitions, the track and partition apparatus, as well as its operating mechanism, is contained within a cavity provided in the front seat backrest or in a compartment permanently secured to such backrest. In addition, the track is mounted on the door posts of the automobile, rather than on the front surface of a shield plate, separate from the backrest, in the manner of the present invention. This has the disadvantage that in the prior apparatus, the partition apparatus is more expensive and cannot be removed from the automobile without damaging the automobile for transfer from one automobile to another.
It should be noted that some previous automobile partition apparatus have combined vertical movement and pivoting of the partition window, such as shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,666,313 of Halstead et al. However, these apparatus have the disadvantage that the partition window projects laterally a considerable distance from the shield as it swings out from the shield during raising of the window. This is extremely dangerous because the partition can easily strike the rear seat passenger in the face. The apparatus of the present invention overcomes this problem by mounting the partition window on tracks attached to the front of the shield plate, which restricts movement of the window to sliding movement along the tracks, thereby preventing any pivotal movement of the window.